Abstract
What do you do when you have a
three week old baby Amboina King
Parrot and need to be gone from
home for three days to put on an
antique motorcycle show? None of
your friends who can hand feed want
to take the responsibility for a bird so
young. Well, you take the bird along
with you, by golly! In the process, he
does well , gets a great name, and I
learned a lot about improvising.
I had Merkel for five days before the
show, and was taking him to work
with me for his daytime feedings . He
was already in a double box situation
with a heating pad . Merkel is an
Arnboina King Parrot which species is
exceptionally easy to hand feed and
deal with even at two weeks old. For
the work situation, I put his "baby
cradle" box, which was about 8" x
12", into a larger box, about 18" x 24",
with a heating pad on low, under his
"cradle box." The remaining room in
the larger box was used to transport
his formula , teaspoon, thermometer,
feeding syringe, extra towels, and tissues
for wiping his chin. I happen to
like tea towels as opposed to shavings
for use under my baby birds , and
change them often. At work, we are
lucky enough to have a microwave
oven, making formula heating easy.
Suddenly, Friday was upon us, and I
had no takers for baby bird sitting. I
got creative in a huny! Grabbed a two
foot high stack of towels, a large plastic
bag to serve as a "diaper pail,"
enough food for him, but forgot to
bring a jug of purified water. So guess
what? I used our bottled water we
drink - the fancy stuff, with pictures
of Alpine mountain peaks on the
labels. That's got to be good water to
mix with hand feeding formula! But
how would I heat water for him in a
camping situation at the fair grounds
in Hanford? I bought what is called a
"stinger" at the variety store. About
$7.00, it is a coil that heats up, on a
cord, when plugged into an electric
outlet. Perfect, because I always use a
glass candy thermometer to make sure
of the temperature before feeding,
anyhow.
Merkel traveled well the three hours
it took us to get to our destination,
right beside me on the seat, where I
could keep an eye on him. By the time
we got there, it was already dark and
time for bed. I found a power source
and plugged his heating pad in on
medium for the night. He needed his
last feeding so I put the stinger in a little
water in the bottom of a cup.
Apparently I didn't leave it in long
enough and had put the powdered
formula in already, so when I put the
stinger back in to get it hotter, lots of
formula baked on the coil part. It was
messy and wouldn't come off readily.
I quickly learned how hot to get the
water, then take the coil out, before
adding the powder. Maybe even overheat
the water. It only takes a few
minutes to cool down to feeding
temperature outdoors.
Because it was early May and the
evening was mild, I slept on the
ground under the stars with Merkel
right beside my head so I'd hear him if
he stirred. I put a light cotton towel
over his box to retain the heat for him.
We slept very comfortably; however,
one of my friends who was patrolling
the show bike area that night reported
that two cats were within a few feet of
us at one point during the night. I was
glad I had Merkel so close to me. That
would have been an expensive meal
for two undeserving stray cats!
Short term baby sitters to keep an
eye on him were plentiful and
watched him faithfully when I had to
be off taking photos, etc. I fed him on
his regular schedule, and it was really
only a little more trouble than at
home. As the day warmed up, I turned
the heating pad off and kept him in
the shade. He became a little overwarm
in the late afternoon and I
noticed he didn't eat quite as enthusiastically
for the latter half of the day,
either. I fed him smaller amounts and
oftener during this time, and I made
the consistency of his food more
watery, figuring it would slide down
better. He probably needed more
moisture, anyhow. I took him out of
his box occasionally so the air could
circulate around him. We even took a
walk around the swap area of old
motorcycles, Merkel and I, being careful
to stay in the shade when we
could.